Home > Journals > WMLR > Vol. 51 (2009-2010) > Iss. 4 (2010)
William & Mary Law Review
Abstract
This Article suggests that insurance policies are not merely contracts but also are designed to perform particular risk management, deterrence, and compensation functions important to economic and social ordering. Recognizing this fact has significant implications regarding the manner in which insurance policies are construed in coverage disputes. From this insight flow interpretative consequences suggesting that policy construction can be improved by not only performing traditional contract analysis of disputed policies but also appreciating the particular function of the insurance policy in question as part of the insurance product’s larger role as a social and economic instrument or institution. Applying this broader analysis, the Article examines in some detail the longstanding and frequently litigated issue of how many “occurrences” have taken place within the meaning of liability insurance, as well as examining issues of “business risk,” “accidental” events, liquor liability exclusions, claims for inherent diminished value of vehicles involved in automobile collisions, trigger of coverage, and the workers’ compensation implications of post-injury suicide. Appreciating the social instrument status of insurance vindicates some judicial decisions while exposing the shortcomings of others.